4 cost
CRIT Rate / CRIT DMG
3 cost
Electro DMG
3 cost
ATK% ≥ Electro DMG
1 cost
ATK%
1 cost
ATK%
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Last updated: 22/October/2026
Best guide and build for Xiangli Yao from WW (Wuthering Waves). Xiangli Yao is a 5★ rarity character from the 
Electro element who uses the Gauntlets type weapon.
Huaxu Academy's Principal Investigator, Xiangli Yao, displays exceptional expertise in various research fields despite his young age. He is a gentle yet rational soul, embracing unique insights and commitment to the research of Automata Mechanics.
Xiangli Yao has at least one video guide available:
Last review update
Patch 3.7
Last major build/calcs update
Patch 3.7
Last profile update*
22/October/2026
*Profile update means smaller edits to echoes, stats, synergies or teams that don't require new calculations.
To learn more about Xiangli Yao check the sections below. Use the tabs to quickly switch to the kind of information you're looking for.
Profile
Probe
Basic Attack
Perform up to 5 consecutive attacks, dealing Electro DMG.
Heavy Attack
Perform a charged attack at the cost of STA, dealing Electro DMG.
Mid-air Attack
Perform a Plunging Attack from mid-air at the cost of STA, dealing Electro DMG.
Dodge Counter
Use Basic Attack after a successful Dodge to attack the target, dealing Electro DMG.
Deduction
Attack the target, dealing Electro DMG.
Cogitation Model
Attack the target, dealing Electro DMG. Enter Intuition. When in Intuition:
Obtain 3 Hypercube(s). Each time Resonance Skill Law of Reigns is cast, consume 1 Hypercube(s). Intuition ends once all Hypercubes are consumed.
Basic Attack and Heavy Attack are replaced with Basic Attack Pivot - Impale, which performs up to 3 consecutive attacks, dealing Electro DMG.
Resonance Skill Deduction is replaced with Resonance Skill Divergence, which deals Electro DMG.
Dodge Counter is replaced with Dodge Counter Unfathomed, considered as Resonance Liberation DMG.
Forever Seeking
Resonance Skill - Decipher
When Capacity reaches 100, Resonance Skill Deduction is replaced with Resonance Skill Decipher.
Consume 100 Capacity to cast Resonance Skill Decipher, dealing Electro DMG, considered as Resonance Liberation DMG.
Resonance Skill - Law of Reigns
When in Intuition triggered by Resonance Liberation and Performance Capacity reaches 5, Resonance Skill Divergence is replaced with Resonance Skill Law of Reigns.
Consume 5 Performance Capacity to cast Resonance Skill Law of Reigns, dealing Electro DMG, considered as Resonance Liberation DMG.
Mid-air Attack - Revamp
Shortly after casting Resonance Skill Decipher or Resonance Skill Divergence, use Basic Attack to perform Mid-air Attack Revamp at the cost of STA, dealing Electro DMG, considered as Resonance Liberation DMG.
Capacity
Xiangli Yao can hold up to 100 Capacity.
Every Normal Attack Probe on hit grants Capacity.
Every Resonance Skill Deduction on hit grants Capacity.
Performance Capacity
Xiangli Yao can hold up to 5 Performance Capacity.
When in Intuition triggered by Resonance Liberation:
Obtain 1 Performance Capacity when Stage 1 of Basic Attack Pivot - Impale hits a target.
Obtain 2 Performance Capacity when Stage 2 or 3 of Basic Attack Pivot - Impale hits a target.
Obtain 2 Performance Capacity for every Resonance Skill Divergence on hit.
Obtain 3 Performance Capacity for every Mid-air Attack Revamp on hit.
Obtain 2 Performance Capacity for every Dodge Counter Unfathomed on hit.
Knowing
Gain 5% Electro DMG Bonus after casting Resonance Skill for 8s, stackable for up to 4 times.
Focus
When in Intuition triggered by Resonance Liberation, Xiangli Yao's resistance to interruption is enhanced.
Principle
Attack the target, dealing Electro DMG.
Chain Rule
Xiangli Yao will call down a laser beam upon the first target the incoming Resonator's Basic Attack hits, dealing Electro DMG equal to 237.63% of Xiangli Yao's ATK to an area. This effect lasts for 8s and can be triggered once every 2s, up to 3 times.
Sequence Node 1
Resonance Skill Law of Reigns additionally launches 6 Convolution Matrices at enemies, each dealing Resonance Liberation DMG equal to 8% of the skill's DMG Multiplier.
Sequence Node 2
Casting Resonance Skill or Resonance Liberation Cogitation Model increases Crit. DMG by 30% for 8s.
Sequence Node 3
Casting Resonance Liberation Cogitation Model increases the DMG of the following Resonance Skill moves by 63% for 24s: Decipher, Deduction, Divergence, and Law of Reigns. This effect can be triggered up to 5 times.
Sequence Node 4
Casting Resonance Liberation Cogitation Model grants a 25% DMG Bonus to all team members' Resonance Liberation for 30s.
Sequence Node 5
The DMG Multiplier of Outro Skill Chain Rule is increased by 222%. The DMG Multiplier of Resonance Liberation Cogitation Model is increased by 100%.
Sequence Node 6
The Hypercubes obtained from Resonance Liberation Cogitation Model are enhanced, increasing the DMG Multiplier of Resonance Skill Law of Reigns by 76%.
CRIT DMG
ATK%
HPATK
DEF
Max Energy
CRIT RateCRIT DMG
Healing Bonus
Electro DMGWhile the source of the materials can be quickly found in the game, when it comes Violet Coral you will have to gather them from the map. Check our Interactive map to find them quickly:
Review
Please keep in mind Wuthering Waves is a skill-based game and each character has a different playstyle, difficulty level and even special tricks and combos. Wuthering Waves is also a team based game and it's only by combining both these factors to the highest level a character can reach optimal performance.
Fully Quickswap-friendly, huge amount of Swap Cancel windows and hence has room for a lot of rotation optimizations;
Can slow enemies down almost completely, making his rotation easy to perform and hard to interrupt;
Used to be free.
Much like the majority of the older character cast, is completely powercrept at this point. Even his own Signature isn’t best in slot for him anymore;
Very abnormally long rotation without Quickswap, 14s Outro buffs are very prone to expiring;
When he does have to dodge, his rotations get slowed down significantly most of the time;
Not free anymore. Good times…
Xiangli Yao is a 5-star Electro Gauntlets DPS who wants to fire off his Ultimate as quickly as possible to enter a higher-damage stance called Intuition, during which he can deal a larger amount of Resonance Liberation DMG.
The highlight of Xiangli Yao’s kit is his Ultimate. As explained earlier, it makes him enter the Intuition stance, which lasts a whopping 24s (needless to say it’s not going to expire on him), and he gains access to new attacks as well as a new Forte gauge during this stance. He wants to enter it as quickly as possible to start dealing the majority of his damage.
Once his and his teammates’ buffs are ready, he enters Intuition and can start filling up his new Forte gauge, Performance Capacity, which stacks up to 5 times. He gains 5 stacks when performing a full Basic Attack chain, or when performing a full Skill chain (which leads him into a Forte Mid-air Attack ending in a plunge). Up to 3 times per Ultimate, when his Forte gauge is full, he can cast a special Forte Skill called Law of Reigns. His rotation goal, as you could’ve guessed, is to cast those 3 Forte Skills as quickly as possible before switching out. In practice, that should be performed through 2 Skill-Plunge chains and 1 full Basic chain.
Xiangli Yao also has access to another Forte gauge, called Capacity. When fully filled up through his Basic Attacks or Skills outside of his Ultimate form, he can cast a Forte Skill called Decipher which can then follow into the same Mid-air Attack as in his Ultimate form. However, this Forte gauge will not be used in practice since executing this Skill takes too much time and is overall not worth building up to.
Other than this, his passives are simple self-damage and interruption resistance increases, and his Outro launches 3 extra lightning strikes to enemies hit by other characters’ Basic Attacks.
Is Xiangli Yao a good pull? Let’s get the obvious out of the way: No. Xiangli Yao got huge team upgrades since release in the form of Lynae and Mornye being basically as ideal of supports as he could ask for, but they’re not enough. Why? A lack of raw damage numbers. Case in point with arbitrary numbers: giving a 200% boost to a character that deals 300000 damage is not as good as giving a 100% boost to a character that deals 500000 damage (you get 900000 vs 1 million).
However, Xiangli Yao was given for free way back in 1.2. Let’s assume you’re a long-time player and you already own him on your account, whether from that or from pulling for him on a rerun in the past. Can he be okay to invest into? Sure.
Xiangli Yao’s one of those damage dealers where you really need to set your expectations low in terms of how they can perform, however he can be okay enough to clear some of the easier endgames with. He can get passing scores with enough investment and a proper rotation. As a matter of fact, if you spend enough time optimizing his Quickswap rotations, or you own Yinlin, he can get clearing performances without necessarily taking up Lynae and Mornye, who are much better used on characters with higher base damage than him. It will be difficult in content like Endstate Matrix for example, but it is possible to get results in theory.
In conclusion, if you need a weaker team than usual to clear some of the early floors of Tower of Adversity or set another score in Endstate Matrix for example, and you already own him, Xiangli Yao could just be serviceable enough to get the job done if you choose to invest in him. Do we recommend him to any new players? That’s a definite no from a meta standpoint, but older players who already own him can still use him and get some okay-ish results out of doing so.
Build
The percentages show the performance of the weapon based on calculations, but in some cases, some weapons might provide additional QOL that can't be quantified and it would push that weapon ahead of others in the priority (and in those cases, we would put that weapon higher).
Xiangli Yao calculations were done using added buffs from the following teammates:
Lynae + Spectrum Blaster + 
Pact of Neonlight Leap
Mornye + Starfield Calibrator + 
Halo of Starry Radiance
100.0%
97.0%
89.2%
88.7%
88.3%
86.7%
80.9%
78.7%
78.1%
72.0%
70.1%
66.0%
100.00%
Offers a 10% unconditional Electro DMG% boost and up to an additional 30% Electro DMG% after you land a combination of 2 Heavy Attacks or Resonance Skills for a grand total of 40% additional Electro damage after fully ramped.
Below you can find Main Echo options:
92.12%
Offers a 10% unconditional ATK% boost and an additional 5% ATK% for every 1.5 seconds the equipped character has been in combat - up to 20% after 6 seconds, totalling 30% additional ATK% after fully ramped. This set almost almost loses out to most characters signature elemental sets, but is generically usable across all damage characters regardless of their element. The calculations for this set assume you're not swaping during the combo. If you will swap, the set performance drops (to 89.26%).
Below you can find Main Echo options:
Substats: Energy Regen (Until Satisfied) > CRIT Rate = CRIT DMG > ATK% > Liberation DMG% > ATK
Without Signature, an Electro DMG 3-cost is always preferred.
All recommended endgame stats portray a fairly good quality endgame build as a goal to aim for on most characters. However, don’t treat this as an end-all-be-all, and more of a suggestion.
All stat recommendations are given at S0 for 5-stars, S6 for 4-stars, and free characters (unless specified otherwise), based on total stats in the in-game stat-screen with the character out of combat but also active in the party (and hence some buffs may or may not apply). Any other precision may be directly specified. If not specified, Energy Regen requirements are estimated in the character’s best team.
HP: 15000+
DEF: 1100+
ATK: 1800-2300+
CRIT Rate: 60%-80%+
CRIT DMG: 215-280%+
Energy Regen: 120%+
Estimated in a Lynae+Shorekeeper team.
Electro DMG Bonus: 40-70%+
Below you can find the order of leveling the abilities for Xiangli Yao.
Res. Liberation
Forte Circuit
Intro Skill
Res. Skill
Basic Attack
Intro, Skill and Basic can be skipped when levelling to save on resources at a near-nonexistent damage loss.
Gameplay and teams
Xiangli Yao’s rotation goal is to set his own and his teammates’ buffs up before using his Ultimate to access his main damage window, and then cast his 3 Law of Reigns skills as quickly as possible before ending his rotation.
Swap Cancel Nightmare: Thundering Mephis at the very end of his rotation (No Quickswap) or before his rotation starts (in Quickswap).
Void Thunder’s 5-piece bonus effect only will only be maxed out if both a Heavy Attack and a Skill are cast, so it’s important to ensure both stacks (15s duration each, separately handled) are up for Xiangli Yao’s rotation.
Intro
Heavy Attack (Instantly interrupt via Skill)
Skill (Instantly interrupt via Ultimate)
Ultimate
Skill: Divergence
Basic: Mid-air Attack: Revamp
Skill: Law of Reigns
Basic: Pivot 1
Basic: Pivot 2
Basic: Pivot 3
Skill: Law of Reigns
Skill: Divergence
Basic: Mid-air Attack: Revamp
Skill: Law of Reigns (Interrupt when cube starts forming via Swap)
Echo (Swap)
Outro
The interruption on the last Law of Reigns allows for the first 4 hits of it to connect (most of the damage), but the last hit does not occur. Still, this saves a second over letting the full hits connect, and since Xiangli Yao’s rotation is so long to begin with, it ends up more optimal to perform his rotation this way.
Timing a Tune Break Skill with the full Forte generation of one of his Mid-air Attacks can save close to a second while sacrificing minimal damage. It is highly recommended outside of Quickswap to significantly speed up your rotations, to execute this when possible (try maximizing Tune Break Skill damage as your first priority though, considering that Xiangli Yao’s own damage is far from the highest in the game).
Xiangli Yao is a character with a lot of Quickswap freedom. The overwhelming majority of his attacks after his Ultimate are quickswappable, including his Skill (Forte and non-Forte variants), his Mid-air Attack, and his second Basic Attack. Overall, he has a lot of room to execute his rotations within your other characters’ rotations, which makes him a particularly good character to try to Quickswap with. His Quickswap rotations are very free-flow, so experiment as you wish with them!
Lynae 
Yinlin - Easily Xiangli Yao's best partners. Lynae is the best choice by a landslide since she provides an almost equivalent buff to Yinlin's Outro with a much more impressive general buffing profile in the rest of her kit; Yilnlin is another easy to use partner, as she provides great off-field DMG via Coordinated Attacks, and amazing 20% Electro and 25% Liberation DMG Amplify Outro buffs. The pairings here are quite natural and effective.
Changli - Let's be clear: we don't recommend Changli+Xiangli Yao to casual players. The pair is extremely quickswap heavy and reliant on that mechanic to deal any semblance of good damage. It will underperform drastically if you don't quickswap a ton of attacks from both characters, especially compared to Yinlin. However, if you really want to push this game's limits, this duo is one of the highest damaging in the entire game. Good luck.
Jianxin - Good option for Xiangli Yao if you don't own the above options, as she amplifies Liberation DMG by 38% on Outro, which is a significant boost to his damage. However, Jianxin is awkward to use due to her extended field time and Energy problems. Only use her if you don't own above choices or aren't willing to quickswap.
Yangyang - Xiangli Yao's best option that isn't a limited 5 star if you are willing to quickswap. Xiangli Yao has several windows Yangyang can use to get a lot of attacks in and effectively allow you to play two characters at once, making for a great damaging pair. No Energy problems to worry about as well, thanks to Yangyang's Outro.Mornye 
The Shorekeeper 
Verina - These 3 are the best generalist Supports in the game. Mornye has a special synergy with Lynae since Lynae can apply Tune Rupture/Strain for Mornye to respond to them and provide her full array of buffs, making her the best choice generally if Lynae is in use. Shorekeeper is however a close second thanks to her massive CRIT buffs and other generalist buffs, then Verina is the most accessible and still very strong option if neither are available. Best Team
Mornye is only best with Lynae on the team.
Expert Team
VERY difficult to play. Not recommended to casual players.
Budget Team
Might face Energy problems and need more Energy Regen to be built on Xiangli Yao.
Budget Expert Team
Not recommended to casual players, benefits strongly from Swap Cancels.
Calculations